The Catholic Counter-Reformation

Pope Francis’ denial

IT was with beating hearts that we saw Pope Francis fly off to visit the United Arab Emirates on the shores of the Persian Gulf. The media, always at a loss for religious commentaries, – even the Catholic daily La Croix! – only managed to repeat a refrain that accompanies all accounts of the Pope’s deeds and actions since Paul VI: “For the first time ever, a Pope...”

Yes, it is a “first” to celebrate the anniversary of the meeting of St. Francis of Assisi with sultan Al-Malik Al-Kami in 1219, eight hundred years ago!

What a disappointment it was! Under the pretext of “ interreligious dialogue,” the Pope left his own religion in Rome. He did nothing more than adapt his discourse to Muslim “monotheism.” So it was really not worthwhile! There was no exchange between our religions, no “dialogue,” but only a monotonous monologue supposedly monotheistic.

Instead of an interreligious exchange, it would be more exact to speak of conforming our Trinitarian monotheism – the only true one – to that of the Muslims. Pope Francis told them that we are all “ children of God,” which is true, on the condition that we all have Mary for Mother: That is why Saint Luke calls Jesus, our Saviour, Mary’s “ first-born” (Lk 2:7,) considering the multitudes that will be saved by following Him into Mary’s womb. For no one can have God as Father who does not have Mary as Mother.

Unfortunately, the Pope spoke neither of Jesus nor of Mary to the Muslims who nevertheless welcomed him with the magnificence of the Magi who came long ago to adore the Child and His Mother in Bethlehem. The procession of cars that drove the Pope to the gigantic presidential palace, the day after his arrival in the United Arab Emirates, was escorted along the immense, deserted thoroughfare by the presidential cavalry, while the air patrol traced ribbons of smoke in the Vatican colours of yellow and white, in the sky lit by the midday sun.

It is said that Pope Francis is a fervent reader of Saint Thérèse. Well, she sees at the moment of the Annunciation, all the other children of Mary rising up – all those whom Her Divine Son is going to free from the bondage of sin –, to be truly made children of God, and Jesus’ own brothers and sisters, the very members of His Body. In the third and fourth verses of her hymn, Saint Thérèse celebrates this great vision of the Mystical Body:

“ When an angel from Heaven bids You be the MotherOf the God Who is to reign for all eternity,I see you prefer, O Mary, what a mystery!The ineffable treasure of virginity.O Immaculate Virgin, I understand how Your soulIs dearer to the Lord than His heavenly dwelling.I understand how Your soul, Humble and Sweet Valley,Can contain Jesus, the Ocean of Love!“ Oh! I love You, Mary, saying You are the servantOf the God Whom You charm by Your humility.This hidden virtue makes You all-powerful.It attracts the Holy Trinity into Your Heart.Then the Spirit of Love covering You with His shadow,The Son equal to the Father became incarnate in You,There will be a great many of His sinner brothers,Since He will be called: Jesus, Your first-born!”(Poem no. 54: Why I love you, o Mary! May 1897)

To preach this mystery, Pope Francis had only to call upon Our Lady of Fatima, Whose name alone would have made the hearts of his Muslim hosts thrill, at the same time as he would have mobilised the Immaculate Heart of Mary to draw Her graces upon them. Alas! Moreover, it was already an established fact that her statue had come from Portugal to preside over the WYD in Panama... for nothing!

As he got out of the car, the Pope was greeted by the Crown Prince. At his side the Pope listened to the anthems of the Vatican and the United Arab Emirates. The delegations of the United Arab Emirates and the Holy See were then introduced, with the names of the representatives mentioned over the courtyard’s loudspeakers. Then the prince accompanied his host to a room where a closed-door meeting was held.

At the end of the visit, the Pope signed the guestbook with these words written in English: “ With gratitude for your warm welcome and hospitality and with the assurance of a remembrance in my prayers, I invoke upon Your Highness and all the people of the United Arab Emirates the divine blessings of peace and fraternal solidarity.”

There you have it! The “ Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” which is co-signed by the Pope and the Grand Imam, elaborates on what is truly nothing more than an act of apostasy.

POPE FRANCIS’ APOSTASY

In fact, the Pope partook in an interreligious meeting at the “ Founder’s Memorial” – the memorial of Sheikh Zayed (1918-2004,) the founder of the United Arab Emirates – to “ write a new page in the history of relations between religions, confirming that we are brothers and sisters” the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin explained.

Thus, “ the idea of fraternity” replaces the theological virtue of charity, and “the page” of the Christian religion and the civilisation that it produced is turned. The Pope began his speech by the traditional wish of peace “ in the Name of God” (bismiʾllah,) and he ended it by denouncing the cruelty of war and violence:

“ Human fraternity requires of us, as representatives of the world’s religions, the duty to reject every nuance of approval from the word ‘war’. Let us return it to its miserable cruelty. Its fateful consequences are before our eyes.”

The Pope held up Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya as examples of where war is not only a ‘word,’ before exhorting everyone to build bridges: “ Together, as brothers and sisters in the one human family willed by God, let us commit ourselves against the logic of armed power, against the monetization of relations, the arming of borders, the raising of walls, the gagging of the poor; let us oppose all this with the sweet power of prayer and daily commitment to dialogue.”

Without Christ? Without Jesus and Mary? Of course! This is Pope Francis’ “ interreligious” message: “ Our being together today is a message of trust, an encouragement to all people of good will, so that they may not surrender to the floods of violence and the desertification of altruism. God is with those who seek peace.”

Thus, these words of Christ are disavowed by His own Vicar: “ Without Me you can do nothing.”

“ God (’Allah) is with those who seek peace. From Heaven He blesses every step which, on this path, is accomplished on earth,” by the grace of Pope Francis, whose first commandment is:

“ We cannot honour the Creator without cherishing the sacredness of every person and of every human life: each person is equally precious in the eyes of God.”

Here is the second commandment, inseparable from the first: the right of this ‘human person’ to religious freedom, of which the United Arab Emirates are the champions: “ I wish to express appreciation for the commitment of this nation to tolerating and guaranteeing freedom of worship, to confronting extremism and hatred. Even as the fundamental freedom to profess one’s own beliefs is promoted – this freedom being an intrinsic requirement for a human being’s self-realisation – we need to be vigilant lest religion be instrumentalised and deny itself by allowing violence and terrorism.”

In witness whereof, the Imam of Al-Azhar and “ His Holiness Pope Francis” signed a “ Declaration on Human Fraternity,” world peace, living together and the rights of women:

“ In the name of God” (in Qurʾānic Arabic : bismi-llah,) Pope Francis makes his own the invocation that introduces each of the 114 Sūrahs of the Qurʾān. The first one, the “ liminary” Sūrah (fatiha,) elaborates “in the Name of Allah,” a deism that negates the Most Holy and Most August Trinity: “ In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit ” which, according to the Qurʾān (Sūrah IV, verse 171) is held to be an impiety. Thus the sign of the Cross is excluded. The Document continues: “ In the name of innocent human life that God has forbidden to kill, affirming that whoever kills a person is like one who kills the whole of humanity, and that whoever saves a person is like one who saves the whole of humanity.”

“ God has forbidden to kill” by a “commandment,” which was promulgated on Mount Sinai in the Decalogue (Ex 20:13.) The following affirmation, however, “ whoever kills a person is like one who kills the whole of humanity, and that whoever saves a person is like one who saves the whole of humanity,” is neither in the Book of Exodus, nor in that of Deuteronomy. It alludes to the biblical account of the murder of Abel by Cain, his brother, which the Qurʾān recalls: “ Whoever kills someone who has neither killed anyone nor harmed the land, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoever saves someone’s life, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.” (Sūrah 5, verse 32)

This affirmation, presented as though it were a divine law, is inspired by the rabbinic tradition according to which “ God created a single person, to teach that if any man has caused a single life to perish, he is deemed as if he had caused a whole world to perish; and anyone who saves a single soul, he is deemed as if he had saved a whole world.” (Sanh, chapter 4, end)

Adam is being referred to here along with his son, Cain killing Abel and thus bringing to an end Adam’s lineage, in order to make us forget Jesus Who, by “ saving a life,” His own, saved the whole world. Nevertheless, Jesus had begun by ‘laying down His life’ and He took it up again by rising from the dead, “ for if we have grown into union with Him through a death like His, we shall also be united with Him in the resurrection ” (Rm 6:5.)

As I have shown in my translation of this Sūrah, the author of the Qurʾān presents himself as sent by God to obliterate this mystery of Redemption and to put an end to the war waged between false brothers, Jews and ‘Nazoreans’ who, according to him, are apostates of Abraham’s ‘perfect’ religion. (The Qurʾān, Translation and Systematic Commentary, Vol. III, p. 291.)

Today, for the 8th centenary of the vain attempt of Saint Francis of Assisi to make the Sultan of Egypt a Christian, our Holy Father Pope Francis imitates the author of the Qurʾān rather than Saint Francis, in concert with the imam of Al-Azhar who plays the role of successor of the author of the Qurʾān in his ‘ecumenical’ plan:

“ We call upon intellectuals, philosophers, religious figures, artists, media professionals and men and women of culture in every part of the world, to rediscover the values of peace, justice, goodness, beauty, human fraternity and coexistence in order to confirm the importance of these values as anchors of salvation for all (sic!) and to promote them everywhere.”

The Holy Father enthusiastically signs this denial of the mystery of the Redemption! In doing so, he is accomplishing to the letter the plan of the Antichrist at work in the Church, which Father de Nantes detected in 1963, after the first session of the Council:

“A chilling thought, however, arises. We are told that new times are near when Christians will dare to forget this Cross, which endues them with life, in order to appease their enemies. As love for Jesus ebbs, indifference to truth and justice ensues, and now, the great plan for the last times is being announced: it is the reconciliation of all mankind. Christians and pagans, enemies until yesterday like Herod and Pilate, like the Jews and the Romans, weary of so many useless struggles, are going to become reconciled with the intention of tearing down this Cross set over them and imposing an enduring silence concerning Jesus. Amends cannot be made for the tragedy. This is something that would be too difficult to obtain from the wicked, so let it be obliterated! Man’s future, his peace and wellbeing are at stake, so it is better that one Man should disappear from history than that the multitude should suffer Such is the greatest revolution of all time, the only truly radical revolution opening up for mankind a new era where science and prosperity will create a new world of truly united people!” (Letter to My Friends no. 136, Passiontide 1963)

Such is precisely the aim of the Declaration of both Francis and At-Tayeb:

“ By mutual cooperation, the Catholic Church and Al-Azhar announce and pledge to convey this Document to authorities, influential leaders, persons of religion all over the world, appropriate regional and international organisations, organisations within civil society, religious institutions and leading thinkers. They further pledge to make known the principles contained in this Declaration at all regional and international levels, while requesting that these principles be translated into policies, decisions, legislative texts, courses of study and materials to be circulated.

“ Al-Azhar and the Catholic Church ask that this Document become the object of research and reflection in all schools, universities and institutes of formation, thus helping to educate new generations to bring goodness and peace to others, and to be defenders everywhere of the rights of the oppressed and of the least of our brothers and sisters.”

Without Christ? Of course, since this “ invitation to reconciliation and fraternity” is addressed to “ all believers,” as well as to “ non-believers,” as “ an appeal to those who cherish the values of tolerance and fraternity that are promoted and encouraged by religions,” with no distinction or discrimination. This Declaration may be “ a witness to the greatness of faith in God that unites divided hearts and elevates the human soul.”

“ The faith in God” of non-believers? Yes! At least as “ a sign of the closeness between East and West, between North and South, and between all who believe that God has created us” not to “ serve Him” (Catechism of the Catholic Church) but “ to understand one another, cooperate with one another and live as brothers and sisters who love one another. This is what we hope and seek to achieve with the aim of finding a universal peace that all can enjoy in this life.”

And in the next?

The question of the afterlife was not broached by François and At-Tayeb, other than to give this warning:

“ There is no alternative: we will either build the future together or there will not be a future”... here below.

That is why “ the time has come when religions should more actively exert themselves, with courage and audacity, and without pretense, to help the human family deepen the capacity for reconciliation, the vision of hope and the concrete paths of peace.”

In Jesus alone is the past, the present and ‘the future’ of humanity, in this world and in the next. It is in a perpetual state war because of sin, which is a revolt against God. He sent His Son to redeem it, to deliver it from this slavery, and to make it the “family” of the children of God and of Mary, Mother of God.

The time has come to sing to Francis ‘remember,’ because he seems to have forgotten this! In any case, there is no mention of it in his “Abu Dhabi message.’ So we will not have ‘peace’ but war, because Jesus indeed warned us: “ Without Me you can do nothing.”